Method of manufacturing tires



April 6 1926. 1,579,922

J. R. GAMMETER METHOD OF MANUFACTURING TIRES Fil v. 1 1922 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Zly.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING TIRES Filed Nov. 1, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 1&6.47 l 47 (ZZZ. Qammelen y/ 17 H 1%.

Patented Apr. 6, 1926. 6

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. GAMMETEB, 0F AKRON, OHIO,- ASSIGNOR TO THE B. F. GOODRIGHCOMPANY,

' OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING 'rnms.

Application filed November 1, 1922. Serial No. 598,321.

T 0 all eohom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. GAMMETER, a citizen of the United States,residing at -Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Method of Manufacturing Tires, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of pneumatic vehicle tireshaving soft or fclincher type beads. It is particularly applicable tothe building'of tires wherein weak-wefted cord fabric is used, in whichdiificulty has heretofore been encountered in obtaining uniform orsufficient tension or stretch in the fabric plies of the tire .duringthe building thereof. In order to insure suflicient stretch in thefabric plies of the finished tires it has been common practice to buildthe tire on a rigid core, and

then to replace said core with an expansible bag and to distend the bagwith a fluid to stretch the tire against the walls of the mold inwhichit is vulcanized.

The chief .objects of my, invention are to provide an improved methodof'manufacturing tires whereby the tires may, be molded and vulcanizedwith the fabric thereof under proper tension without removal of thetires from the solid cores on which they were built. I

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation o apparatus adapted to carry out myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the tirestretching members in opened-out o'r inoperative position.

, Fig. I3 is a section, on a large scale, on the llne 3-3 of Fig. 1,showing the tire stretchin membersin operative position.

Fig. 4 1s a view similar to Fig. 3 showing parts in open or inoperativeposition.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-section of a tire, its core, and certainclamping members, after removal from the machine and read to beassembled with a vulcanizing mol Referringto the drawings, 10, 10 are apair' of upright beams, suitably secured to the floor and ceiling, onwhich are mounted a pair of brackets 11, 11, supporting at top andbottom a large, annu ar housing 12 mounted in a vertical plane. Thelateral edges of the housing 12 are each formed with an inwardlyextending circumferential flange, 13, 13, and a set of radial, in-

I wardly extending bearing brackets, 14, 15, 4

tively, each of the levers 17 being substantially opposite one of thelevers 18.

Each of the levers 18 comprises a relatively long and slightly bentportion 18 adjacent its hinge, and its other end portion is more sharplycurved toward the center of the device and terminates in a transverselyflattened finger 18 having an arcuate edge. Each of the levers 17 has aportion 17 of substantially the same general form as the opposite lever18, such portion extending from its hinge and crossing said oppositelever 18, and terminating in a flattened finger 17 The levers 17,however, are formed with integral arms 19, 19 extending radially inwardfrom their hinges, the inner ends of said arms being flared and engagedat the front and rear by a pair of annular flangeson an axial slide 20,the function and construction of which will be described hereinafter. Ineach arm 18,

where it is crossed by the arm 17 is an arcuate cam slot 21. The shapeand position of the slot 21 is such that any movement of a the lever 17will be transmitted to and siaxial extension 24 projecting from the head9 25 of a fluid pressure cylinder 26, said extension being mountedbetween the beams 10 and constituting the support for the cylinder 26.The cylinder 26 is provided at its opposite ends with fluid supplylines27, 27 for delivering pressure fluid to opposlte sides of itspiston 28, said lines being controlled from a common valve (not shown)and ada ted to exhaust one end of the cylinder w en pressure is admittedto the 100 other end. The piston rod 29 of said cylinder extends .fromthe rear end thereof and is secured at its outer end to a cross-head"30, and a plurality of rods 31, 31 connect said cross-head with theslide 20, to move 105 it backward or forward as the cylinder-26 isactuated. Mounted on the outer periphery of the cylindrical housing 12are several (here shown as three) radially disposed, fluid 0 130 tialsets of levers, 17, 17, and 18, 18, respecrearwardlg pressure cylinders32,- 32, each cylinder. mg connected with common pressure-fluld supplylines 33, 33, for delivering pressurefluid to opposite sides of theiristons 34. Each piston 34 is provide with a piston rod 35 projectingradially inward through the housing 12 between the levers 17, 18, saidpiston rod having its inner end formed with integral oppositely disposedracks 36, 36, facin ront, and rear, said racks being meshe with gearsegments 37, 37 formed on the hubs of a pair of arcuate levers 38, 38,ivoted at 39, 39 between a pair of brac ets 40, 40, said brackets beingsecured to the housing 12.--

Upon the front end of the spindle 23 1s mounted a chuck 41 provided withradial arms 42,42 which are movable radlally by means of a hand wheel 43and adapted to supportan annular ring core such as 44 by en agement witha groove in its mner peri fiiery. Secured to each of the arms 42 isaforwardly extending bracket 45, and

extending brackets 46, 46, provided wit outwardly projecting stops 46,46, are mounted on the main body of the chuck 41, said brackets servmgas suppprts for a pair of annular bead clam mg rmgs 47, 47, at the frontand rear 0 the rin core 44. The sides of-the bed clamping ringsfacing'the ring core 44 are ooved as at 48, 48 to accommodate the bea s49, 49 of an unvulcanized tire casing 50 built on Said core, said beadclamping rings also having tapered or inclined faces 51, 51 (Fig. 5)adapted to fit the mold sect1ons subsequently mounted thereon, andinwa'rdl extendin flanges 52, 52, said flanges n adapte to seat upon thebrackets 45, 46.

The tire 50 is of s ecial construction, bein built with beads of greatercircumferentia length than required in the finished tire, the side wallsbeing correspondingly ow and the toes-of thebeads being an stantially.nearerthe crown of. the core than they are to be the finished tire.

In practicing niymethod with the appara- .-tus herein described, thestretching and.

' clamping arms of the machine being in the ositiops shown Fi s. 1,2landi4,fthe rear ad 0 amp 4 is p ace mm the front, uponfiix to the leftas viewed in Fig. 2. The travel of r the slide-2 0; swings the levers 17and consequently-the'levers 18, upon their pivots and i causes-theirfingers 18.' ,to move in arcu;

.exact procedure herein described.-

0 brackets 46, the stops 46 preventing it from passing off the rear ofwalls are so stretched. .'.2 -The method of manufacturing tires wh chcomprises buildmg a tire with nar- 1 ate paths toward the tire 50 untilthey enter the clinches or grooves of its beads. Con

tinued movement of the fingers forces the beads inward toward the tongueof the core, thus contracting and compressing said beads and stretchingthe fabric plies of the tire laterally about the core.

While the beads are thus held, pressurefluid is admitted to the innerends of the cylinders 32, forcing their pistons 34 and the them into theposition shown in Fig. 3,

against the bead clamping rings 47, forcing draw their fingers 17", 18from engagement with the tire beads, the latter being prevented fromretracting by the bead clamping rings and the pressure of the levers 38forcingsaid bead clamping rings further inward to occupy the space leftby the withdrawal of said fingers. The bead clamping 3' rings are thensecured in their clamping position upon the tire, as by U-shaped clips53, 53 (Fig. 5), adapted than age the 'flanges 52,52, after which theflui pressure in the cylinders 32 is reversed to restore the levers 38to the inoperative positions shown in Fig. 4. The tire and core withattached bead clamping rings are then removed from .the chuck 11 and thetire vu lcani'zed with- 3 out removal from the core on which it wasbuilt, the tire and core preferably being'enclosed in-a mold duringvulcanization.

Mod fications maybe resorted to without departlng from the scope of myinvention and I do not wholly limit my claims to the racks 36 radiallyoutward, thus swinging the levers 38 on their pivots and bringing fabricof the method may be practiced with various types of apparatus and I donot claim the apparatus herein described as a part of my invention, thesame forming the subject matter of p the Patent No. 1,526,594, grantedFebruary I claim:

1 The method of manufacturing tires which comprises building a tire withnarrower side walls than are to obtain in the finished tire, stretchingsaid walls to finished position about a core, said stretching stepOODSlStlIl of moving the beads of the tire radially mwardly by thesimultaneous application of force at numerous substantially uniformlydistributed positions on the beads, and then vulcanizing the tire whileits side,

rower side walls than are to obtain in the finished tire, stretchingsaid walls to finished position about a core, said stretching stepconsisting of moving the beads of the tire radially inwardly by thesimultaneous application of force" at numerous substantiallyuniformly-distributed positions on the beads, holding said beads intheir forced positions while mounting the tire in a, mold and thenvulcanizing the tire while its side walls are so stretched.

3. The method of manufacturing tires which comprises. building a tirewith its- 4.- The method of manufacturing tires which comprises.building a tire with 'its beads outside the ultimate position that is toobtain in the finished tire, forcing said beads to finished positionupon a core, said forcing step consisting of moving the beads of thetire radiallyinwardly by the simultaneous application of force atnumerous spaced positions on the beads, holding the beads in theirforced positions while mounting the tire in a mold, and then vulcanizingthe tire while the beads are so positioned. a

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 26 day of October,1922.

JOHN R. GAMMETER.

